Naruto is more than just a shonen anime/manga protagonist. Like Goku, Gon Freecs and Shinji Ikari, he is a very powerful symbol. These characters represent those who, like us, are stuck in a point in life and, at a certain point, try to move forward. It is no coincidence that they all have a transformation.
Let's start with the name and surname: Naruto Uzumaki. Both have to do with a movement, in particular of the spiral: narutomaki are spiral-shaped surimi, while Uzumaki actually means vortex, spiral.
The symbol of the spiral has a strong symbolic and psychological meaning. Unlike the circle, which represents a closed and defined cycle, the spiral advances and continues, from inside to outside and vice versa. Naruto's life represents exactly the spiral of human life.
It represents what happens with mental health. If your shoulder hurts, healing means that the shoulder no longer hurts. But how does it work with mental health? What does it mean to heal from trauma, anxiety or depression?
"The last of the human freedoms is the ability to choose one's attitude in any set of circumstances."
Frankl, who survived the Holocaust, emphasizes that man can endure any pain if he finds a meaning. Naruto could have become like Gaara but chooses a meaning greater than his pain.
Even for Carl Jung, psychological growth is not linear, but occurs in a spiral, passing through cycles of crisis and transformation. Each phase brings the person to a deeper level of self-knowledge. It is no coincidence that Naruto must go deeper and deeper to meet Kurama, locked in the cages of the ego.
Kurama is not only a destructive creature: it represents the pain, the repressed anger and the weight of a past that Naruto did not choose, but with which he must live. Who among us chose to be born, to live in that particular family and to live in a world that does not feel his own? How many pains become part of us without us realizing it?
Initially, Naruto fights Kurama, just as we often do with the life that has happened to us. We see it as an enemy, an obstacle to overcome, something we want to eliminate. No, that was not what we wanted.
Only when he stops fighting and accepts Kurama as part of himself does Naruto achieve true strength: he no longer has to try to eliminate it, but transforms it into a resource. In psychology, healing does not mean eliminating pain, but changing the way we experience it.
And you, what demons are you trying to fight?
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